It's been a bit of a headache weekend--our guests broke the small window unit in one of the rooms, and while they did offer some funds to help pay for it, it's always a hassle to try and replace stuff. Also, the room was getting hot and turns out the 'squirrel' had eaten through the AC piping--dumb critter--so Jim's been working on THAT all day! Plus, it's hotter than you know what here lately, and not a drop of rain in sight!

I have managed to make a bit of progress on the 'housekeeping' chores. We hung our 'Jameson' shelf in the dining room and I put a few things 'for sale' in there, and also hung the 'wedding' shadow box we bought in Illinois in the Renaissance Suite. It's really cool--her bridal veil is part of the box, and her bouquet as well, and there's a photo of the couple. A really neat piece! I'm trying to get geared up for the 'shop' over Labor Day weekend--but I don't want to overdo the 'selling' aspect. People expect to be in your home, so you don't want to bombard them with stuff to buy. I think it's all pretty subtle, the way I've displayed it. But then we'll go all out for the weekend 'parlor sale.'

I forgot to mention the talk I gave in St. Peters last weekend, before we went to Springfield. I spoke to a writing group about marketing. The talk went pretty well, and I sold 3 books as well, which is always nice. Also, one of the ladies is a freelance writing and she's going to come and stay with us and do an article. She'll be coming next week for the melon party on Friday. The local paper ran an article today in Kingdom Notes about the event--I would link to it except they don't post the columns on their web site! Arghh!!! Anyway, we're planning a recreation for friends and neighbors next Friday!

I think that's about it for the moment. It looks to be a busy week--I need to get to Columbia at some point as well. And we have a full house from Thursday through Sunday, AND a murder mystery next Saturday!!!